Doll-A-Day 2019 #217: Hillbillies

  Today's doll is a couple...well,several. The first two are a couple of my childhood dolls.

I bought these dolls when I was a kid. We went to Kentucky every summer to visit my grandparents. Before we left every year my dad would give us vacation money to spend while we were there. I was a kid,so I spent my money on candy and toys.

 

These hillbilly dolls were always sold as souvenirs there.
 

The smaller one has a string in his head so he can be hung. For display at the store,or for dangling somewhere else?

I guess Kentuckians didn't mind embracing the stereotype of them in those days. My dad was always proud to call himself a hillbilly. I don't think that would be quite the case these days. Korglady,can you shed any light on this? (Not that you're a 'hillbilly',but you live in Kentucky!)

This guy is what is referred to as a 'knee hugger' doll.

For obvious reasons.

Knee hugger dolls were usually Christmas elves,like The Elf on the Shelf.  You can see a load of knee hugger dolls in my post HERE,you can see some Easter elf knee huggers HERE,and also check out 'knee hugger doll' the side bar. Although they are called 'knee huggers' , they can actually let go of their legs.

But as you can see, their arms are usually sewn together, or,as in this case,are all one piece. So they can't have free moving arms unless the kind that are sewn together have their stitches cut. This guy has the 'all one piece' kind.

So he's stuck in this position.

His little skinny legs are pretty free moving though.

But a little too free moving. They are so dangly they don't hold a pose.
 

He's about 9 inches tall.

The other guy has wired legs and arms.

He has a net in his hand,so he's apparently...fishing?

I had him first, and he was played with a lot more than the smaller one.

When I bought him my grama thought he needed a log to sit on. So she had Grampa cut a piece of tree limb for him that looked like a curved log. I still have it, but he's not using it today.

This guy is about 12 inches tall.

When I made the kids a movie,"Emma and Fuzzy Take a Road Trip",starring their dolls of themselves,this guy made an appearance as a guy selling handmade quilts by the roadside. (His quilts turned out to just be 'pictures of quilts',which angered Emma the Doll.) In the end Emma the Doll decided 'they don't have anything',and wanted to leave. Fuzzy the Doll insisted,  'No, wait. I saw something I like'. In the next shot they are in their car and Emma says,"I don't know what you wanted that thing for.' As they drive out of the shot,Fuzzy insists,"I like it.",and the hillbilly,obviously Fuzzy's purchase, is laying on the trunk lid and complaining that he has to 'go to the tall-et', (as my dad used to pronounce it.) I think this accounts for my kids quite a bit...

When Emma  made a sequel to my movie,"Emma and Fuzzy Take a Time Trip",both of these guys appeared.
 

 The other guy probably came from a  yard sale.
 

He reminded me so much of my original guys, and my childhood,that I had to buy him.

I'm sure he's from the same era as my guys.

He's also about 12 inches tall.
 

Like the smaller of my childhood dolls,he's a Knee Hugger.

 I took the pictures today in the evening, just before sunset. It rained really hard today,and the pile of limbs where we trimmed a tree weeks ago were black from being so wet. The late evening sun through the green and black foliage looked misty in the photos. It looked great, like these guys were posing in the middle of the woods.

I wished I had a fairy or wood sprite doll handy to photograph before the light changed.

I tried to find something as quick as I could,and still get the dolls I needed for tomorrow photographed too.So you'll see that doll at some point.
 

  So that's the crowd for today. I'm sure you learned some things you didn't want to know. Come back tomorrow and see if I force unwanted knowledge on you again.